13 December 1988: The Brazzaville Protocol was signed by #Angola, #SouthAfrica and #Cuba agreeing on independence for #Namibia to begin 1 April 1989 and phased withdrawal of Cuban forces over 27 months

11 December 1978: ZANLA guerrillas raided the fuel depot outside Salisbury, firing rockets that set fire to fuel containers and starting a blaze that would burn for eight days and consume months of #Rhodesia valuable oil reserves

4 December 1976: President Jean-Bedel Bokassa announced that henceforth the #CentralAfricanRepublic would be known as the Central African Empire and his 'coronation' as emperor would take place in a year

3 December 1985- "The day is not far when we shall lead you to freedom": Winne Mandela spoke at at rally and vowed vengence for those killed in clashes with Police in the black township of Mamelodi outside Pretoria #SouthAfrica

2 December 1977: The @AP released @PulitzerPrizes winning photos taken by one of its photographers who accompanied a #Rhodesia army unit on a patrol who said he saw soldiers "Loot, burn down huts and beat a politician and torture his wife and daughter"

Culture Cues

June 13, 2018

Culture is Good. Nationalism is Bad.

Now you have caught up on your culture cues ….It’s all change. Culture risks becoming CULT – YOUR. (or Your Cult – for people who speak languages that run in straight lines). Diverse cultures were often misunderstood. This caused problems until cultures blended. Many forgot their root cultures for a while. Some want to re-link with them. In my diverse household, there’s always one of us that shares one culture’s point of view. Of course, the rest of us disagree & the banter begins.

Upping the Anti

Anti-nationalist opinion changes have had unexpected consequences that risk chucking the baby out with the bath water – Like most swings in social opinion, ideas start off meaning well, gain momentum, then just get boring. They end up going a tad to far – causing the pendulum to swing in the opposite Pause – Repeat. The pendulum becomes a sickle, severing any opinions that might differ & killing conversation – Never good for dinner parties. We need sanity to maintain a social life that allows actual conversation because therein lies the secret of great food.

Light

My heart was lightened when I read this. It’s not even anonymous (novel in the days) It’s not African. That’s ok, we are all Global Citizens now – Especially those who were born in countries that no longer exist. The land mass is still there, but some of us still have a bit of a thing for the flag that flew over the place of our birth. This sentiment is not political – it’s kinda an identity thing at best, an ego thing at worst.

More & more people are experiencing this phenomenon as the winds of change have evolved into a hurricane – Besides, weren’t all our ancestors African?

Either way, I am raising a glass to the lovely & talented Ariaa Jaeger for this one – For making me think.

It hasn’t happened for a while. No need. The media do it for me & with so much style & flair.